Business View Magazine September 2018

54 55 realm, both chemically and fraternally: “We are a tool in the composites tool kit but we know that in order to use basalt fiber products, oftentimes - almost every time, in fact - you are using some other composite products along with that. Many times it’s a resin system, but oftentimes, in order to make a part you’re using both carbon fiber and basalt fiber. Or to make the whole system work, you have glass fiber, carbon fiber, and basalt fiber in different areas of application. There is no one complete solution in composites; there are many different tools that work together to make the whole system work.” Regarding inter-company collaboration, Thomp- son reports that the “end user of a composites product is almost never buying off the shelf some single individual’s product.Most often, they’re say- ing,‘I need to solve ProblemA.’And in order to solve that problem, there are five different companies that need to come together.We view the market- place for basalt as growing the composites pie.And the challenge for a company like Mafic, and one of the focuses that we have, is to identify productive partners to solve those problems, to efficiently address market requirements, and to strive to make it worthwhile for all of the companies that we work with,within the industry, to succeed.” While working to make the entire sector suc- cessful, Thompson is convinced that Mafic, itself, has what it takes to succeed here in the U.S., based upon its superior technical knowledge and its excel- lent production capabilities.“We’re a technically in- clined company,”he says.“The internal training that we have continues to produce fantastic employees and we expect that to continue.Our institutional knowledge, in terms of how to make high quality basalt fiber products, is great and has started from day one with our Ireland team.” PREFERRED VENDOR n Hoke Enterprises www.hokeenterprisesinc.com www.HokeEnterprises.com (704) 482-0003 President: ray@hokeenterprises.com Vice President: chris@hokeenterprises.com n Design/Build Projects n New Construction n Renovations n Expansions n Repairs and Maintenance n Demolition n Precision concrete n Steel and more Building What Matters MAFIC Mafic’s owners, who have already invest- ed “a significant amount of money here in North Carolina,” according to Thomp- son, have plans to continue to grow the company’s U.S. operations. “We’re look- ing to expand on the firm footing that we have today, and what we will have achieved in a year’s time with a year’s worth of production out of our U.S. facili- ty,” says Thompson.